Going for the Logan Canyon cuisine
Despite its current low profile, Zanavoo restaurant is part of Logan’s history.
Zanavoo was constructed in 1948 only a few miles up the mouth of Logan Canyon. It has served many purposes, but food has always been the main feature. Hanging on the wall in the restaurant today is the first menu where one could buy a New York steak for just over a couple dollars.
At one time, a few decades back, Zanavoo Restaurant was a popular place for dancing. Live bands would fill the large room with catchy music, yesteryear’s youth dancing the night away. Today, if you uncover the reconstruction which has obscured it, you can find evidence of an old orchestra pit, almost resounding silent sounds from the past.
“I think people come here now because it’s a place to enjoy the canyon atmosphere, to get out of town a bit and just simply enjoy the quiet,” owner and chef of the restaurant Casper Berry said. “Besides, I hear the food is good.”
Levi Lloyd, a junior majoring in interior design, has been a return customer.
“The food is excellent here. I think anyone in the valley that knows about Zanavoo would say the same thing,” he said.
One of the table servers, Derek Andersen, a senior majoring in family consumer and human development said, “I’ve worked other waitering jobs, but I am picky. I won’t serve anything I wouldn’t eat myself. This is the best food around. That’s the only reason I work here. Honest.”
Berry said there are a couple ways he keeps the food top quality. First, he said he only uses “choice” quality beef.
“[Choice beef] means it is the highest quality of beef,” Berry said. There are various quality-labels such as “choice”, and a lower grade named “top”. Some restaurants do not always use “choice,” he said.
He also said quality is about attention to detail. He lets the meat age four weeks and he never freezes anything, except for some of the fish.
“This is so the meat is tender,” he explained.
In the ham used for the chicken cordean bleu, or the occasional spiced-ham special, Berry uses cured 81 ham. Cured 81 ham is at the top of its category as well, because it contains no water.
“Go to the grocery store, and look at the ham. The cheaper stuff has some water in it. Look at anything that is cured 81 and it will be the most expensive,” Berry said.
Prices at Zanavoo are reasonable for a student budget. The menu ranges in prices from a lemon-peppered chicken just under $10 to steaks (New York, steak oscar, prime rib, fillet wrapped in bacon) that range anywhere from $14 to just under $20. Turkey and halibut are also within this range. With a meal comes a salad, muffins made from scratch, and dinner rolls.
Hours are 5 p.m. to 9:30 Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In May it will be open every day except Sunday.
-bretpmorley@cc.usu.edu
Zanavoo owner Casper Berry talks about when his restaurant first opened and the parties he hosted. (Photo by John Zsiray)